What is this equipment?

[Wade Lanning]

In the attached picture some equipment can be seen in the right fenderwell of the Corvair engine bay under the man's right hand.  It has some hoses and/or wires and two devices (fan or tank). This apparatus was installed by GM in two 1961 vintage Corvair show/experimental cars that appeared in magazines (Sebring Spyder coupe and roadster), but might have been aftermarket equipment. Since this was scanned from a magazine article, the clarity is not real good.

 

Does anyone have any ideas what this equipment is for?  

 

[George Albright]

Chain saw!🙄

[Fleek]

It may be a gas powered heater for the interior.. The hot air vent type heaters used on the early Corvairs were not great. They would produce heat, but also a lot of fumes. I have had several. There were aftermarket gas-powered units produced. I think this may be one. I do not know if there was a factory option available or not.

[Wade Lanning]

Yes, gasoline heaters were standard on 1960 Corvairs, then an option for another year or two.  But this could be an aftermarket gas heater.

[dustycrusty]

The gasoline heater was  optionally installed for the discriminating driver who felt they werent getting ENOUGH oil mist and carbon monoxide into the interior compartment from the standard heating system!

 

 They were usually installed in the trunk...

 

[one-shot]

Trunk was in the front. I used to surprise the summer crowd with a very large cooler of ice and Adult beverages. Even came with a drain plug. The added weight up front was a blessing. Had two of them. Both my cars had the gas heater.

I like the addition feature that the generator light came on when the belt broke. Always had two sparers.

Edited May 7, 2020 by one-shot (see edit history)

[TerryB]

VW had a gasoline heater option too.

[TerryB]

And don’t forget Southwind gasoline heaters too!

[one-shot]

My army M43 had the very desirable gas heater in the rear.

[Frank DuVal]

1. Gasoline heater was the ONLY heater available on 1960 Corvairs. 1961 was the year the "hot air heater" was introduced, with the gasoline heater still being an option. Note the FCs (that is the van/Greenbrier/truck version) also had the gasoline heater as an option.

 

2. All Corvair gasoline heaters were in the trunk (in the front of the car), blowing heat through the firewall to the passengers. Even on FCs, the heater was just in front of the passengers.

 

3. Gasoline heater used a heat exchanger , so no gasoline fumes got to the passengers, unless the heat exchnger rusted out. Think of a standard gas or oil burner in your house on a hot air furnace.

 

4. Only thing in the engine compartment on a factory Corvair gasoline heater was the "T" off the fuel pump to feed a 3/16" line back to the trunk to feed the heater.

 

5. Yes, VW 411 and 412 series (and probably more) had optional gasoline heaters (in the front trunk). They had an electric fuel pump to feed the heater, so the engine did not need to run to have heat!

 

 

Chain saw makes more sense.....😁

 

Too bad these cars were destroyed by GM.

[padgett]

Later cars had an AC in that location but I do not see a compressor. Cruise control ?

[Wade Lanning]

Cruise control has been a theory we have been discussing as an option on one of the Corvair forums, so that is a possibility.  Also water or alcohol injection.

[Frank DuVal]

Yes, the receiver dryer on early models (61 to 64, 60 did not have the option) mounted on the frame rail in that location, next to the compressor.

[D Yaros]

The location of the device is where the spare tire was situated on my 1963 Corvair.

[Peter J.Heizmann]

On 5/7/2020 at 10:59 AM, TerryB said:

VW had a gasoline heater option too.

 

Now you tell me, Terry...sheesh😆!!!  Where was the internet when I needed it?  Had a 1960 VW in my college days.  Made a few bucks giving friends a ride home on weekends and all they did was complain about freezing to death...(My Bible was the latest copy of J. C. Whitney's catalog and I must have overlooked the optional heater.)

 

Regards,

 

Peter.

[TerryB]

I was a gas pump jockey in high school.  My first encounter with a VW was when I could not find the under hood gas tank filler.  The owner said his car had a gasoline heater. Wow!  Later I learned why VW drivers had ice scrapers for the inside of the windshield too!